“Based on the reagent reaction, it seems to be early stages of pregnancy. To be exact, we’d have to do a blood test, but it’s almost certain.”

 

“Is the pregnancy definite?”

 

“Yes. Why are you so surprised? Could it be… this person isn’t your omega…?”

 

“No, that’s right. He is my omega.”

 

What?

 

Since when…! Since when was I your omega…?! 

 

Valentin felt his mind gradually returning to reality upon hearing the unfamiliar yet definitive declaration that he had become his omega without his knowledge.

 

He had to question those words right away. Valentin used all his strength to lift his eyelids.

 

“…Dennox.”

 

“Valentin! Are you conscious?”

 

When Valentin, who had regained consciousness, called out to him in a dry voice, Reynard, who was standing next to the bed with someone who seemed to be a doctor, reacted instantly. Pushing the doctor out of the room with his hand, he hurriedly came and sat by the bedside, tightly grasping the slender hand. And he opened his mouth in an urgent voice. His appearance was similar to a desperate attitude of treating a terminal omega lover.

 

“You collapsed on the stairs. If I wasn’t escorting you right next to you, it could have been big trouble.”

 

It was a situation where he could have been seriously injured, and he spoke in a relieved tone, as if saying it was really fortunate and to be assured.

 

Raising his large hand like a shield, he brushed Valentin’s slightly sweaty hair up with his long fingers. Reynard, who gently kissed the exposed baby-like forehead, started speaking again in a resolute voice.

 

“I’ll have to arrange for the best jeweler right away and order the rings first.”

 

“…Pardon?”

 

Ordering the rings first…?

 

I don’t know how many times I’ve said “Pardon?” all day today.

 

Valentin couldn’t keep up with Reynard’s pace at all, and had no idea what he was thinking, so he kept having nothing else to say but that.

 

‘What the heck, right now?’

 

Of course, it was an intentional first time, but they only spent a fiery night together, and then met again like an accident, foolishly drunk on pheromones and drowning in pleasure to spend another night together….

 

When did he ever talk about the future with him…?

 

And since when did I become his omega?

 

“Or do you prefer tradition-rich, antique rings passed down in the family? It would be good to find such things among my mother’s heirlooms and have them newly crafted.”

 

He added with a kind smile that among the many things passed down in the Dennox ducal family, there were many that could be called treasures of the century. While maintaining an incongruently pleasant smile, he slowly and gently brushed Valentin’s hair with his hand and caressed his eyebrows. He had a face that looked like he couldn’t help but adore him.

 

But Valentin was just puzzled, not knowing why the treasure of the century suddenly appeared there.

 

His role all day today was undoubtedly a stupid fool.

 

“Pardon? Why rings all of a sudden…?”

 

“What do you mean why? We even have a child on the way, so we need to get married quickly.”

 

What did you say? 

 

What did you say…?

 

“Ma… Married?”

 

“Yes. You don’t want to raise the child as an illegitimate child, do you?”

 

Reynard’s expression, who asked back as if the small omega pregnant with his child, whose hand was neatly held in his, would never do such a thing, turned ominous and eerie. He was also leaking pheromones expressing a somewhat unpleasant emotion.

 

And there was one fool blankly looking at it….

 

“Pardon?”

 

“I heard you don’t have a fiancé, but is there any other circumstance I don’t know about?”

 

More murderous intent was revealed in his questioning words saying ‘fiancé’. That expression alone was none other than the grim reaper of the valley of hell. He seemed to have thought differently seeing Valentin unable to understand and come to his senses.

 

“No…! That’s really not it, but…!”

 

Feeling himself shrinking like a mouse before a lion under that pressure, Valentin answered in a cowed voice.

 

“Then there will be no problem.”

 

Upon hearing Valentin’s answer, Reynard, who quickly changed to a satisfied expression like a full lion, concluded with a grin on the corners of his mouth. No, excuse me…! The problem lies elsewhere, not that…?! Seeing his expression change in a flash, it seemed he knew how much he had been putting on a kind face in front of him until now. This isn’t even Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde…!

 

“I absolutely can’t bear to see my child grow up without an alpha father. And I have no intention of ever making my omega go through pregnancy without me.”

 

It was an argument as if such things would never happen even if the world ended, tapping the gavel and proclaiming a decree.

 

What…? What is happening right now…?

 

It felt like he fell into a pit of fire trying to avoid poop.

 

How in the world…! How in the world did it come to this…?!

 

‘Arghhhh…!’

 

Valentin felt his mind going blank again after screaming inwardly like a deer. He felt dizzy.

 

“Valentin!”

 

The alpha’s worried shout faded away again.

 

It was Valentin’s third time fainting.

 

It couldn’t be anything but the day of fainting.

 

Return

 

Our poor Valentin who fainted three times a day….

 

To explain how poor Valentin ended up in that state, we have to turn back the clock again to the day he finished his study abroad in Sorencia, which was actually an escape, and returned home.

 

Since it will soon be revealed how Valentin dug his own grave trying to avoid the poop he had been trying to avoid all along, let’s dig into the past journey a bit more even if it’s a little boring.

 

* * *

 

Choo choo…. Clank clank. Clank clank.

 

The steam engine train that moved by burning coal spewed out regular cries and ran on the rails.

 

It was a journey going back home, alternating between carriages and trains several times.

 

In the first-class compartment blocked by glass and dark wood, Valentin, who had been blankly staring at the moving scenery outside with his elbows on the thick window frame, suddenly broke the silence.

 

“Have you heard anything about that, Uncle?”

 

At the sudden voice, Dalton, who had been scanning a newspaper printed on yellow, thin paper with his eyes, slowly raised his head. And after quietly looking at Valentin’s serious face who asked the question, he sighed, folded the newspaper with a rustling sound, then opened his mouth.

 

“What? You mean your marriage talks?”

 

The right answer came out right away.

 

He must have known after all. What Valentin was fed up with, trying to avoid, and left the capital and social circles for. And what he feared.

 

Indeed, Dalton had always been the person who watched Valentin’s life more closely than his parents and grew up together with him.

 

“Yeah.”

 

Dalton also crossed his arms in a slow motion at Valentin’s immediate answer and leaned back leisurely on the compartment chair. And he furrowed his brows as if recalling an unpleasant and bothersome matter. After gazing into the air for a moment like that, he finally opened his mouth, looking at Valentin with a sharp gaze.

 

“How do you want me to tell you? The truth? Or just rumors?”

 

He was gauging whether his young nephew who had cried in his arms could now objectively and coolly accept his situation as a true adult.

 

Valentin answered resolutely with a determined expression.

 

“The truth. Tell me the truth.”

 

Upon hearing that answer, Dalton rubbed his furrowed brows with his right hand as if he had expected it.

 

“I don’t know the details, but it’s clear that Empress Beatrice still has a lot of lingering attachment.”

 

“You mean about the marriage talks that were going back and forth with me, right?”

 

When the blatant reality suddenly came out mentioning Empress Beatrice, the birth mother of the 3rd Prince, Valentin asked again, not knowing if he properly understood the truncated words.

 

“Yes. Your marriage talks with the 3rd Prince. That’s what you’re most concerned about, isn’t it?”

 

As expected, Dalton saw right through Valentin’s heart.

 

“Right…. Sigh, leaving the capital was pointless.”

 

Dalton stroked Valentin’s glossy, soft hair as he bent his waist and washed his face with his hands. He had a pitiful expression.

 

“Is it accurate?”

 

He raised his head and asked again just in case, but the answer that came back was resolute as expected.

 

“Yes. If not, there’s no way Empress Beatrice’s side would absolutely not make their relationship official and just wait and see. He’s famous enough to have articles in magazines, not just in social circles, as the 3rd Prince’s lover.”

 

3rd Prince Clifton Leopold and his lover Evener Luwin.

 

The empress did not separate them for a long time and left them as they were, but she didn’t acknowledge them either. Despite the fact that their relationship had been implicitly official in social circles since 5 years ago.